Alice

We were on the move again before sunrise; somebody had made the point it would be safer for us to travel in what little darkness we had left. I had no idea how much further we had traveled, but out in the endless Wastelands, it felt like such a long distance.

Although, it probably wasn't nothing more than a couple of miles. This kind of landscape could trick you like that if you weren't careful. Thanks to the storm from last night, the wind had picked up an immense amount of speed, and was carrying a bitter chill along with it.

I rubbed my arms to try and warm myself up. The few people that were smart enough to bring their blankets with them, were already wrapped up inside of the warmth. I hated to sound greedy, but I wished that I still had that blanket that I woke up with this morning.

I knew Shun had given it to me at some point during the night, and I probably would have turned it down if it hadn't been so cold in the cave. That, and if I was awake when he covered me up with it. Our large group was starting to huddle closer and closer together in order to stay warm and protected from the ash that the wind was kicking up.

Murucho was way up in the front of the group, trying to hold the map in the wind so we could stay on course. He hadn't said anything about where we might have been, or when we would arrive at our next stop. So, while he searched around the area for any landmarks, our caravan stopped to rest.

We would have enjoyed it more if it hadn't been for the wind. I sat down in the ash, facing my back towards the wind so I could protect my face from flying debris. Shun sat down next to me, and we both stared out at the direction we all had just come from.

"Do you think they're closer this time?" he asked grimly. We had about three days worth of safety before the Officials showed up at the lake, and that was only because we got out of dodge quickly. They were probably much, much closer this time. All because we had let foolish ideas enter out thoughts. We thought that we would be safe at the lake, and allowed the threat to slip from our thoughts.

I replied back, "They probably are." It was obvious that we couldn't get comfortable at our next stop. We needed to get there, take the people with us, and keep on going. What happened at the lake, could not happen again. A few feet across from us, a woman was trying to calm her crying child.

I felt sorry for the poor kid. He was going through something that he should have never had to. My friends and I had faced this kind of harsh reality much longer than any of these people, and we were used to it. But not quite used to the fact that the people who had once been our protectors, were now trying to kill us.

We were still trying to adjust to that. Murucho placed two of his fingers in his mouth, and let out an ear piercing whistle. Then, he cupped his hands over his mouth and said loudly, "Time to start moving again!" People groaned as they got up from the ground.

They wanted to stay and rest, but they couldn't. Not until we made our rounds and over the mountain. Once we reached there, they could rest all they wanted. I did have a new confidence in Murucho, though. He wouldn't have us moving so soon unless he found where we were on the map.

The shuffling of feet filled the air, and ash floated up from the ground. I figured that it hadn't been disturbed since the time of the war. The ash clouds lingered no higher than our knees, and the gray dust was sticking to legs and pants, coating them in the color of the Wastelands.

My purple dress, was no exception. It was torn and covered in ash. I couldn't complain though. A trip like this, one should always expect this to happen. I was only upset because it was the only clothing I had with me, and I hated the feeling of being trapped in dirty clothes.

Shun didn't seem to mind it. Then again, he had been in this kind of terrain all his life. The torn clothes, were nothing new to him. A few people ahead of us, I saw an elderly man fall to the ground. A woman, about the same age as him, was standing over him, panic on her face.

Two other people, who were much younger, tried to wake the old man up. I figured that they were his children. Shun and I looked at each other, and joined the gathering crowd. I peered over a person's shoulder, and saw the man. His eyes were blank, and his chest wasn't moving or showing any sign of life.

The first person had been claimed by the Wastelands, and more were sure to follow. The elderly would probably start going first since their bodies weren't suited for this kind of stress. Which group would be next, I couldn't predict.

Friends of the old woman, had to drag her away from the dead old man. She didn't struggle against them, but only walked along side them and cried. She knew that this would be the fate that so many would face, and she accepted it. Dan and Julie had joined Shun and I; Murucho and Runo kept on leading the people along. Dan stared down at the body and said, "We can't leave him here."

Julie nodded and said, "Yeah. It wouldn't be right." Dan was about to say something, but Shun cut him off. "No, he means that we can't leave him here because it will let the Officials know we went this way." It was a horrible thought, but this body would be nothing more than a huge sign for the Officials to follow.

Dan nodded and said flatly, "Exactly. We have to move it from our trail. I would say bury it, but we have nothing to dig with." Julie wrinkled her nose up and said, "So we're just going to hide it?" Dan was already starting to pick up the old man's body when he said, "Yup. That's all we can do. Either that, or let the Officials find us again."

Shun and Dan went out a ways to move the body to another location. Julie didn't want to touch the deceased man's body, and I didn't think I would be able to stand doing what they were. Who would have thought that those two would have worked together over something like this? It was kind of disturbing.

Already, this world outside of the City was changing us. The two of them returned and Dan told us, "There. That should throw them off it they find it. Now, we need to catch up with everyone else." Our caravan was far away, and we had to run to catch up with them.

I hoped that nobody else died today. It took too much time to get the body off our path of travel, and it was just too much for me to handle. We finally caught up with the mass of people. As we pushed through them to return to our spot up front, I couldn't help but notice their eyes.

They looked dead and emotionless, almost like the eyes of the Outcasts, but a little more blank. I understood why; they lost everything, and knew they would lose a lot more. The longer the day went on, the colder and colder it got. Then, little flakes started to fall from the gray clouds.

It didn't look like any ash from the Wastelands; it was too white, and cool to the touch. I held out my hand, and let one of the flakes land in the center of my palm. It melted, and turned into water. I had only heard about this kind of event in stories, or at school when I still went. Never did I think I would see it. But here it was. Snow. It was snowing.

Shun

I stared up at the sky, looking at the tiny, white objects falling from the clouds. A few of the flakes touched my face and turned to water in a matter of seconds. "What is going on?" I asked, genuinely confused about what was happening to the weather. Alice caught several of the flakes in her hands and said, "It's snow. It happens when it gets cold enough. Or something like that. I don't remember exactly what my teacher told me."

When she told me what it was, I remembered one of the older Outcasts mentioning this kind of phenomenon before. He had said how enough would fall and cover the Earth in several feet of it, but only when it was very cold, and very up North. Were we far enough up North, that it was actually able to snow?

Murucho was looking over the map and said, "I know we haven't gone by our stop. It must still be up ahead." Once we calmed the rest of the confused people, we started to move again. The more we walked, the more snow we encountered. Soon, the ashes on the ground were replaced with the frozen flakes of water.

It was deeper than our ankles, and we slowing us down drastically. Without enough clothing to protect us from the cold, a lot of the people were starting to suffer the dramatic effects of the harsh temperature drop. The sky, no longer gray but black, only made the trek in front of us more terrifying.

Unable to see very much in front, or behind us, I was anxious to know what was around me. Runo was hugging herself tightly in order to stay warm. She yelled over the wailing wind, "Murucho! Are you sure we're on the right track!" The short boy used the map the shield himself from the pelting snow.

"I'm sure we're still going the right way!" he yelled back. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw several people drop to the ground. I didn't have to walk over to them to know that they were dead because of the freezing air. Dan shouted at him, "How do you know we haven't gone by it yet! We can't see anything!"

Murucho stared at Dan, and I saw that he was hoping that we hadn't missed our stop. Because if we had, then we would all freeze out here. Several more people dropped onto the ground; we wouldn't have to worry about moving their bodies because the snow was doing the job of covering them up.

Our numbers would dwindle drastically if we stayed in this snow storm, which they already were. Through the howling wind, I picked up the sound of something that reminded me of jingling chains. I wasn't the only one who heard it, because the other five turned to face the sound as well.

The source was emerging from the darkness, and I felt my heart speed up with anxiety. Who was out here, and would they do anything to us? There were more than one of the people though. They were on some sort of sled that was pulled by two or three dogs each.

They pulled on the ropes, which were connected with chains, and made the dogs stop. One of the people stepped off his sled and pointed off into the darkness to tell us to follow him. Could we trust this stranger? It was either him, or freeze to death.

The people on sleds, turned them around and popped the ropes, making the dogs start running again. We had to pick up our pace so we didn't lose them in the darkness. Just when they escaped our field of vision, we walked a little further and saw hundreds of fires in front of us, lighting up the darkness around us.

Each one of the fires, was in front of a little dome made of ice. None of us cared if this was our stop or not. With the promise of warmth and safety, we hurried towards the fires.

a little bit of geographic change for your thoughts? eh? eh? :p (trying to keep things fresh, ya know?) check out the poll on my profile if you have't done so. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~